Downstairs re-design with a hidden internal door
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We're doing a downstairs redesign and this is the proposed plan. Keen to hear thoughts on the plan in terms of flow from entrance to living/dining to kitchen.
We also need a kind of hidden door to a boot room from the informal living area that does not look cluttered. Any suggestions on how to go about this? (The door to boot room in the new plan below)
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POLL: Pick an internal door!
Comments (12)Overall surely your poll is largely redundant? i think that the style of door should match the style of house or the build intention if a challenge is the plan. we are having this door dilemma at the moment. i voted wooden because that is what we will be having upstairs (i am not adventurous enough to have glass bathroom doors!) but downstairs pocket doors are our plan and am unsure how far to go with design as all, barring one, will be hidden 99% of the time....See Morewhere to put downstairs loo and too many doors in hallway
Comments (19)Hi! Nice big extension. There are a lot of structural alterations going on there. You could potentially reduce costs and get a similar set of spaces with a few adjustments that minimise the structural changes. A few things I'm wondering: 1. the huge cupboard off the TV area in the family room, would that door get in your way if later on you wanted to put in a larger sofa, perhaps a corner sofa partially along that wall? Is the TV area the place that you need the storage coming off or would it be better for that to be off the playroom to store toys in? It's worth thinking about what you plan to store in there. There seems to be quite a big new structural opening to make this and I wonder if that is an unnecessary cost, where you could either have toy storage off the playroom or just make the playroom bigger. Obviously it depends on what you plan to store in there and where you need to access it from to use it. 2. If you either made that big cupboard part of the playroom or accessible from the playroom then you could omit the structural opening and push the toilet back, then access it via a cloakroom. This would mean that you could open up the space under the stair so that it feels much bigger and that window under the stair will let light into the hallway. This would also reduce the number of doors in the hallway by 1. (I don't think the number of doors is a big issue, but if it bothers you then you could do this) Then you could also push the utility room wall back to the original line of the previous wall and make it a bit bigger, which will make it easier and more comfortable to use, and potentially save you demolition and rebuild of some wall. 3. The porch is tiny. There are benefits to having a porch, but this size of porch will be really uncomfortable to use. I would either get rid of the porch. Or make the porch bigger and change the configuration a bit, maybe by having the inner door to the right hand side and then you have a wall that you could put some bench seating and shoe storage combined along, if you are the type of family that prefers to remove shoes at the door / in the hall. Check out building regulations doc M for sizes of an accessible porch type area to give you an idea of how you might improve this porch and make it easier and more comfortable to get through. Hope these ideas help....See MoreDownstairs loo design - pipe/boxing issues
Comments (10)Have to say I’d be careful with that soil pipe layout - there’s a lot of bends for the waste to go round and if it’s all at floor level there’s not much of a drop for gravity to help things along. If you can’t swap the loo to the pipework end due to door being fixed, I think you should go with the half height boxing in/false wall as suggested above, to allow the soil pipe to drop quite a lot from loo to the other end. There can always be access hatches or cupboard doors built in to the false wall. (Indeed you will need a rodding point somewhere). That last angle is a bit of a pain isn’t it. Rather than a corner sink I think I would get a vanity cupboard built out to the same depth as the tall pipework boxing. Gives you somewhere to store spare loo roll etc. You have plenty of space there opposite the door. If you have a corner sink it then causes issues about mirrors etc. Are you going to need to fit a small radiator or towel rail in?...See MoreBeautiful Victorian downstairs design dilemma
Comments (18)Personally I would want the low ceiling parts of the house to be rooms you sit down in and the kitchen to be in one of the best spaces as for me it’s an important room. And I think being able to circulate around the house helps you use more of it. If it were mine I would have the kitchen in the whole of the left side and use the former kitchen as a dining room. You might consider moving the laundry upstairs and turning the current utility into an entrance near your parking.... you could even use some of this space for a big guest wc too. I would get rid of the downstairs shower room because I think when parents become too frail to get up your stairs they won’t be prepared to travel. For me it’s more important to connect the areas so I would get rid of the shower. I would open up the two reception rooms on the right to each other but I concede a family might prefer separate spaces. And rather than extend I would be investing in the garden. I would put a patio in the sunniest part and create some new doors to the back from principal rooms (as opposed to going through the back lobby or utility as you must now)....See More
PROlast monthI agree, without seeing the rest of the building and understanding your lifestyle it is hard to give you advice. Have a look at these few render models I have knocked up real quick to give you an idea.
Rishi Renjith thanked Smart Design Hub- last month
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